Editing West Germanic languages (section)

==Comparison of phonological and morphological features==
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2019}}
The following table shows a list of various linguistic features and their extent among the West Germanic languages, organized roughly from northwest to southeast. Some may only appear in the older languages but are no longer apparent in the modern languages.

{|class="wikitable"
|-
!
!scope="col"| Old English
!scope="col"| Old Frisian
!scope="col"| Old Saxon
!scope="col"| Old Dutch
!scope="col"| Old Central<br />German
!scope="col"| Old Upper<br />German
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Palatalisation of velars
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Partial|Partial}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Unrounding of front rounded vowels
| {{Partial|Partial}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{Partial|Southwestern}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Loss of intervocalic *''-h-''
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Partial|Developing}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Partial|Developing}}
| {{No2|No}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Class II weak verb ending ''*-(ō)ja-''
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Partial|Sometimes}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Merging of plural forms of verbs
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| [[Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law]]
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Partial|Rare}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Loss of the [[reflexive pronoun]]
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Partial|Most dialects}}
| {{Partial|Most dialects}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Loss of final ''*-z'' in single-syllable words
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Reduction of weak class III to four relics
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Monophthongization of *''ai''
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Partial|Usually}}
| {{Partial}}
| {{Partial}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Monophthongization of *''au''
| {{No2|No}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Partial}}
| {{Partial}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Diphthongization of *''ē'', *''ō''
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{Partial|Rare}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| [[Final-obstruent devoicing]]
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Partial|Developing}}
| {{No2|No}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Loss of initial ''*h-'' before consonant
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
| {{Partial|Developing}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| Loss of initial ''*w-'' before consonant
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{Partial|Most dialects}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
|-
!scope="row" style="text-align:left"| [[High German consonant shift]]
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{No2|No}}
| {{Partial}}
| {{Yes2|Yes}}
|}

The following table shows some comparisons of consonant development in the respective dialect/language (online examples though) continuum, showing the gradually growing partake in the [[High German consonant shift#Geographical distribution|High German consonant shift]] and the anglofrisian palatalization. The table uses [[:de:Internationales Phonetisches Alphabet|IPA]], to avoid confusion via orthographical differences. The realisation of [r] will be ignored.

C = any consonant, A = back vowel, E = front vowel
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Proto West Germanic
!*θ-
!*-ð-
!*-β-
!*-β
!*g-
!*-Aɣ-
!*-Eɣ-
!*-Ak-
!*-Ak
!*-Ek-
!*-Ek
!*d-
!*-d-
!*b-
!*sA-
!*sE-
!*sk
!*-t-
!*-p-
!*-tt-
!*t-
!*-pp-
!*p-
!*-kk-
!*kA-
!*kE-
|-
|PR-English
|θ
|ð
| rowspan="9" |v
| rowspan="8" |f
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |ɣ 
| colspan="1" rowspan="2" |j
| colspan="2" rowspan="7" |k
| colspan="2" |t̠ʃ
| colspan="2" rowspan="7" |d
| rowspan="11" |b
| rowspan="2" |s
| rowspan="2" |ʃ
|ʃ
| rowspan="8" |t
| rowspan="8" |p
| colspan="2" rowspan="7" |t
| rowspan="8" |p
| rowspan="10" |p
| rowspan="8" |k
| rowspan="2" |k
| rowspan="2" |t̠ʃ
|-
|Frisian
|t
|ɾ~d
| colspan="2" rowspan="6" |k
|sk
|-
|South Low Franconian
| rowspan="10" |d
| rowspan="6" |d
| colspan="3" |ɣ
| colspan="2" rowspan="9" |z
| rowspan="2" |sx
| colspan="2" rowspan="9" |k
|-
|North Low Franconian (Dutch)
| rowspan="2" |x
| rowspan="3" |x
| rowspan="3" |ç
|-
|West Low German
| rowspan="8" |ʃ
|-
|North/Central Low German
| rowspan="6" |g
|-
|East Low German
|ʝ
|ʃ
|-
|West Central German
|x
|ç
| colspan="2" |x
| colspan="2" |ʃ
| colspan="2" |t
| colspan="2" rowspan="5" |t͡s
|-
|Mid Central German
|ɾ
| rowspan="4" |b
|ɣ
|ʝ
|ɣ
|x
|ʒ
|ʃ
| colspan="2" |d
|z
|v
|b
|g
|-
|East Central German
| rowspan="3" |d
| rowspan="3" |b
| colspan="2" rowspan="3" |g
| colspan="2" rowspan="3" |x
| colspan="2" |ʃ
| colspan="2" rowspan="3" |t
| rowspan="3" |s
| rowspan="3" |f
|p
| rowspan="2" |k
|-
|Upper German (only partly HG)
| colspan="2" |ç
| colspan="2" rowspan="2" |p͡f
|-
| -> some southernmost dialects
|k
| colspan="2" |x
|p
|s
|
| colspan="3" |k͡x
|}